Summer food program gets new website

Millions of kids eat free or reduced-price meals at their schools during the school year. But during the summer, those numbers drop dramatically. Last year Michigan schools served 144 million free meals. But during the summer the state only served 2.6 million meals.

Howard Leikert is the supervisor of School Nutrition Programs. He says the Summer Food Service Program is seriously underutilized. The state hopes a new website will help people locate places providing free summer meals.

“We just thought it would be a fairly easy way for a lot of different people including parents, school officials, and school food service sponsors to be able to go online and find directions to the nearest site.”

The website maps out 950 locations including schools, non-profits, and community centers where kids 18 or younger can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks.